


Customer Service

by maximumsuckage



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Bakery, Awkward Crush, Bakery Shop Owner Gabriel (Supernatural), M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-02
Packaged: 2019-02-09 00:49:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12876621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maximumsuckage/pseuds/maximumsuckage
Summary: Gabriel has many regular customers to his bakery.  But the only one he's interested in is the tall, attractive one who always makes a beeline for the pie.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the prompt by @nathyfaith on tumblr: How about a Sabriel drabble? Gabriel is a baker and has a crush on this tall pretty guy that always comes to buy his pies, but never eats it in his shop and he wants to know why?!

“Yes, like the sign says, it’s two for three-fifty or one for two dollars.” Gabriel leaned one elbow against the counter and waved his hand towards the basket. “It’s literally been the same sale for, like, two years now.”

“I see that,” the lady said, wrinkling her nose in distaste. “But I don’t want two cookies. I want one cookie, for one-seventy-five.”

“Well I already programmed the register, and I lost the instruction manual to change it, so you’re gonna have to either buy two or fork over the extra twenty-five cents.”

“But I-”

Gabriel’s eyes wandered to the window as a familiar black car pulled into the parking lot. “Look, lady,” he said, shooting a glare at her. “We have this argument every day, and every day you pay the extra quarter. Just buy two cookies and eat them both. You could use the meat on your- HELLO, welcome!” He straightened up when the bell rang and grinned widely at the new customer.

Lawrence, Kansas, was a small town, which meant that Gabriel had a lot of regular customers. He also had a head for sales- his father had founded a multimillion dollar corporation, but family problems meant that Gabriel had bolted as soon as he could, with only a few hundred dollars and half a college education to his name. A dozen or so odd jobs later, he’d saved up enough money to kickstart his own business, and now Angel Cakes was his own little baby. It wasn’t making him rich, but for the first time in his life, he found himself content.

Except, now he was not content. He was very uncontent. He was practically itching for something new.

A very specific something new.

“You’re in luck,” he called, abandoning his first customer. “I’ve got some fresh pies coming out in three minutes.” Three minutes where the customer would be forced to stay and talk.

But the tall man with the perfect hair was perusing the pre-cut slices in their plastic boxes. “Thanks, but the single’ll be fine.” He chose one, and carried it to the register. “Sorry, were you in line?” He asked the other woman before he set the pie down.

“She was just leaving,” Gabriel said through his teeth, and then a thought occurred. “And, she won! Lookit that! Three cookies, for free!”

“You just told me-”

“Free!!”

The tall customer watched the odd interaction, and then shrugged as the woman practically ran out with her free loot.

“You sure you don’t wanna stay for the fresh ones?” Gabriel leaned on the counter and grinned up at the customer. “Got a couple cherry, apple, and strawberry rhubarb, but if you really wanna suffer that old piece that’s been on the shelf since this morning…”

“I appreciate you trying to upsell me, but I’m good with this,” he said, smiling politely and pulling out his wallet.

Gabriel’s nose twitched. Once again, this tall glass of water was going to walk out with narry a word of hello. That was all the bastard did- came in, bought a pie (sometimes a whole, sometimes a slice) and then left. Where was the neighborly conversation? Anybody as hot as this mystery customer needed to stay and at least have a few words with Gabriel. Was it him? He doubted it- he was adorable. That was one thing he knew about himself. So honestly, how dare this customer come in and not talk to him when his stomach did flips every time he saw that stupid dark car pull into the parking lot-

“You okay?” The perfect likeness of a model was holding out the three dollars and twenty-seven cents for the slice (in exact change). “You looked a little distant there.”

He glanced down at the money, and then up at the customer. Very, very slowly, he typed the numbers into the register. “I’m Gabe,” he said casually. “Since you’re in here so much.”

Please respond, please respond, please respond-

“I know. You’re wearing a name tag.”

Gabriel almost cursed, and shoved the money into the register. “Yeah, whatever. It mighta been a fake, ever think of that?” A bit too roughly, he dropped the slice of pie into a bag and handed it up to his customer. “Figured you should know the name of the guy who makes your pie every day.”

“Oh… it’s not actually for me.” The tall, perfect god of a man took the bag, his hand accidentally brushing Gabriel’s. It was warm, and tingles seemed to shoot down Gabriel’s arm. He jerked his hand back, and the man turned to head towards the door. Gabriel ducked down like he was doing something very important under the counter (though he had already organized the bags six times that day, avoiding other customers). Shit. The pie wasn’t for him. For a girl, probably, and now he looked like a total idiot-

“Hey, Gabe?”

He glanced up, holding a bag so the customer would know he was doing Very Important Things, and not hiding at all.

“My brother likes your pie.”

Gabriel tilted his head. Brother, not-

“And my name’s Sam.”

The door jingled as he left, and Gabriel had to duck down again so no customers would see him press his fists to his mouth to stifle barely repressed glee.


	2. Chapter 2

"Dude, I don't mind the grocery store's pie." Dean looked up from the computer as Sam fished around for the car keys. "It's literally just as good, and half the price." 

"This place does it homemade though." Sam found the car keys, buried in Dean's dirty laundry. He grimaced, holding them by his thumb and index finger. "There's less processed fats in it. Trust me, I'm doing it for your heart. And you need to do laundry." 

Dean waved a hand. "I was just gonna toss it in with yours later. Seriously though, you don't need to buy my food. I just made you do it the first time as a joke, but now I actually feel bad? Which is weird, and I don't like it. I'll grab my own pie, bitch."

"No!" 

Both of them looked surprised by the vehemency of Sam's tone, and he cleared his throat. "No. I mean, I'll do it. It's fine. You're my big brother. I want to." He grinned awkwardly, clutching the keys in his fist. 

Dean raised an eyebrow. "Weirdo," he said, going back to the computer. "Just get one slice for me then. Gotta keep up my girlish figure. And grab some beers while you're out too. This case ain't gonna solve itself."

"Will do." Sam darted to the door before Dean had a chance to question him further. 

The brothers worked well together, to the point where some people questioned how good they could actually be. Dean was a cop, currently elbow deep in a murder that had happened just on the edge of his jurisdiction. Sam was a lawyer, having graduated from Stanford summa cum laude, and he often found himself as prosecutor on Dean's cases, dipping into his brother's case file. It hadn't always been that way- the two brothers had gone their separate ways when Dean dropped out of high school and Sam went to college, but the death of their father ultimately brought them back home, where they'd ended up sticking around. 

Angel Cakes Bakery had opened up several years after they'd both established themselves in their hometown, and Dean had sent Sam out to rustle him some pie from the new place. He'd declared it 'pretty good, not as good as that diner we had the other night, but better than the place at Stanford you'd take me to when I visited'. And if Dean's opinion had been the only thing at stake, Sam would have gone back to just the grocery store's two for one deal.

But the pie was not the only thing at stake.

When he'd first seen the man who owned the place, Sam hadn't thought much of him. He was a bit shorter than average, and mouthy with a customer who was trying to haggle with him, and his hair was slicked back in an obnoxious way that screamed slick salesman. But when Sam had gotten to the register, his entire opinion changed. The man grinned up at him, gold eyes flashing with humor, and Sam had felt something inside him melt. 

He hadn't expected anything to happen- nothing really had happened, ever since he and Jess graduated and drifted apart. He'd thought he wouldn't be interested again.

And now he found himself returning to the same damned place every time Dean mentioned a craving for pie. All because of a stupid baker labeled as 'Gabe' by his nametag.

So far, nothing had happened. There was chemistry, Sam thought, but he didn't want the man to think he was strange, and he didn't want to push his luck and find out he wasn't interested, or was seeing someone (because how was someone with eyes like honey whiskey and jokes that could make the dead sit up and laugh actually single?). So each time, he walked in, smiled politely, paid, and walked out. And every time, he promised himself that next time, he would do something. 

A customer was haggling Gabe when Sam pushed open the door, but he still interrupted that conversation to shout a greeting towards Sam, that adorable, dorky grin on his face. The familiar bell jingled cheerfully, and he was aware of Gabe's watching him walk over to the single slices in their little plastic cartons. "You're in luck," he called from the register. "I've got some fresh pies coming out in three minutes!"

Sam perused the single slices, and picked a slice of cherry for Dean. As much as he wanted to wait for that three minutes, Dean had requested only one piece, and Sam's stomach was already doing flipflops at simply being in the vicinity of the new(ish) baker. "Thanks," he said, "but the single'll be fine." He walked over to set the slice on the counter, and only then remembered the other customer, who was glaring at him. He backpedaled, cursing himself. "Sorry, were you in line?" Great, now he looked like an idiot in front of the adorable little cashier. He wanted to sink into a hole.

"She was just leaving," Gabe said, and his tone was slightly strained. She must have been putting up quite a fight over whatever sale he was or wasn't having. "And she won! Lookit that! Three cookies, for free!"

"But you said-"

"Free!!"

It must have been quite the fight, just before Sam walked in, if Gabe was literally paying her via merchandise to leave the store. He always seemed to get the worst customers. Sam wished that sometime, just once, he could witness one of the infamous fights, so he could step in to save the poor baker, and maybe then he'd notice Sam as something more than a customer...

"You sure you don't wanna wait for the fresh ones?" Gabe was leaning against the counter now, casually as he always was. Sam, on the other hand, felt awkward and tall. "Got a couple cherry, apple, and strawberry rhubarb, but if you really wanna suffer that old piece that’s been on the shelf since this morning…"

Dean only wanted a single. "I appreciate you trying to upsell me, but I'm good with this." Sam gave Gabe a light smile and reached for his wallet to count out the change. He'd been here too much, if he had the price memorized down to the pennies. He'd been here this many times, and still, Gabe didn't notice him. He held out the money, and sighed as he realized that the baker wasn't even paying attention. He was off in his own little world, gaze drifting somewhere to the side, thinking about problems Sam only wished he could help out with. "You okay? You looked a little distant there."

Gabe shook himself and took the money, not even bothering to count it as he punched a few buttons on the register. "I'm Gabe," he said suddenly, eyes fixed on the register. "Since you're in here so much."

It was like sparks exploded in Sam's vision. His stomach leapt to his chest. He needed to say something, needed to respond- "I know," he said, and then kicked himself- was that creepy or what? "You're wearing a name tag," he explained.

Like curtains hastily drawn over a window, Gabe's expression vanished. "Yeah, whatever," he grumbled as he threw the money in the register, hard enough that Sam watched a penny bounce out and roll across the floor behind the counter. "It mighta been a fake, ever think of that?" The last bit was more of a mutter. "Figure you should know the name of the guy who makes your pie every day."

"Oh... it's not actually for me." Sam wanted to scream. There had been an opportunity, and he'd missed it. He hadn't just missed it- he'd destroyed it. Gabe had extended a hand there, and Sam had just slapped him in the face with it, and now he could forget about getting to know the golden-eyed baker, because he could see when somebody felt rejected, and he could see that in the tension in Gabe's shoulders now, as he stood there, and he should just leave, get out before he could do any more damage. He grabbed the bagged pie from Gabe's hand and fled to the door.

And then he paused, taking a breath. 

If he opened that door now, the chance would be lost forever. And the idea of that lost potential hurt more than the embarrassment that was burning through him now. 

"Hey Gabe?" he asked, before he could lose his nerve. He glanced around, to see that Gabe had already gone back to doing chores, which apparently consisted of organizing bags. "My brother likes your pie. And my name's Sam." 

Only then did he flee, and the bell did nothing to disguise the happy noise Gabriel made when he learned Sam's name. Even when the door closed and Sam could hear nothing, that little yelp of glee echoed in his ears and made his stomach turn in flops. 

Dean would definitely need more pie tomorrow.


End file.
